by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Cardinals second baseman is an All-Star, a legitimate MVP candidate, the National League leader in runs, hits and doubles.

He wasn't even sure he was a second baseman until May. Now, he's another homegrown hero coming along at just the right time to help maintain the Cardinals' status as World Series contenders.

After all, it's the Cardinals Way.

One of baseball's most storied franchises is now a consistent juggernaut - on pace for its fourth playoff berth in five seasons - thanks to what can best be described as organizational mastery:

Identify and draft talented and versatile players. Teach them a wide variety of skills. Impart consistent franchise philosophies across all affiliates. And watch previously unheralded players flourish at the major league level.

It's a recurring theme: Third baseman David Freese and outfielder-first baseman Allen Craig became unlikely stars for an unlikely 2011 World Series winner, before Craig became the guy who has replaced and outhit Albert Pujols over the last two seasons and become a cornerstone of manager Mike Matheny's roster.

More recently, in the heat of a difficult National League Central race, 25-year-old Matt Adams, a 2009 23rd-round draft pick, has stepped up, hitting two extra-inning home runs to win a crucial game at the Cincinnati Reds. Adams is filling in for injured Craig, who two years ago was just like Adams: an unheralded product of the St. Louis farm system looking to prove he could play in the major leagues.

It's what the Cardinals do.

"The path that I've taken to get here - and Allen (took) - it's not your typical way," says Carpenter, a 13th-round draft pick who played five positions last season but earned his way into a regular role this season (he's still played three other positions) and found himself alongside Craig at the All-Star Game. "To see it pay off is pretty rewarding."

It is not your typical way, but it's the Cardinals Way.

They're often names familiar only to ultra-loyal St. Louis fans or your neighborhood fantasy geek.

But there always seems to be another one coming from a farm system that has become one of the game's most prolific.

"Next man up, the next guy is going to get it done," Matheny said Sunday after the sweep of the previously division-leading Pittsburgh Pirates was finished off by pitcher Michael Wacha, a 22-year-old making his sixth major league start.

And that's something of a learned trait in the Cardinals organization.

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Philosophy's Roots are deep

That "next man up" philosophy goes back a half-century or so in an organization in which a coaching and development lifer named George Kissell - considered the godfather of how the Cards develop players - became as legendary as Hall of Famers such as Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst.

It stretches into the future in places such as Johnson City, Tenn., and Peoria, Ill., two of the Cardinals' Class A outposts.

"It seems like we're doing something magical," says former big-league catcher Dann Bilardello, in his first year managing the Class A team in Peoria and in his seventh season in the organization.

"In reality, we keep a consistent staff, and we consistently teach the right things."

They talk about the Cardinals Way in almost reverential tones. In seeking to explain it, players offer varying interpretations of the same theme.

"They preach how to get better but win at the same time," says pitcher Lance Lynn, who is a 31-17 since joining the St. Louis rotation last season.

"The Cardinal Way is simply being held accountable for your actions," Carpenter says. "It's integrity, playing hard, working hard, doing all the little things right."

Says Adams, "We're here to win a championship, and if you're not like that, you're just out there playing."

Adams figures he wouldn't be in the majors without the hours coaches spent working with him on defensive footwork or the in-season and offseason improvement plans he was given.

The teaching that Bilardello talks about is a difference-maker. It has to be, considering the success of players who, as Mozeliak says, "weren't necessarily high-profile, cover of Baseball America guys."

Yet the Cardinals turn them into household names.

"When Matt Carpenter first got here, would you have said he's going to be an All-Star? Allen Craig: What position? What's he going to do?" Bilardello asks.

"There's a lot of credit with scouting and everything else. But it's the players. They're the people who make our decisions hard or easy and, they make our decisions to say, 'Man, he deserves a shot.'"

Says Craig, who played every infield position as well as left and right field in the minors as the Cardinals sought a home for his offensive skills, "Every step of the way, I think I've had a coach who told me something that stuck."

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Perfecting skills is focus

If you're looking for a secret formula, don't bother breaking into the Cardinals offices. They're what has become a fairly typical mix of traditional scouting and development people plus a healthy dose of statistical analysis.

"From an organizational philosophy, we embrace our past, we focus on today but have an eye for the future," says Mozeliak, who has been general manager since October 2007 and arguably holds the strongest sway over baseball operations since Whitey Herzog was building championship teams in the 1980s.

"The character theme gets a lot of play in this organization. We're certainly grateful for that reputation. But how we get there is not like a secret recipe. It comes down to strong scouts who understand what they're looking for and what will fit into our model. Then, once (players) get here, what the expectations are from our uniform staff."

What are they looking for?

"We look at what skills they have," Mozeliak says.

But they also try to perfect those skills.

Charlie Tilson is a 20-year-old outfielder the Cardinals took out of high school in the second round of the 2011 draft. Growing up in suburban Chicago, he didn't have the game repetition of some highly regarded Sun Belt kids.

In his first pro offseason, he was invited to St. Louis to work with veteran outfielder Matt Holliday.

"It was me, Ryan Jackson, Matt Adams and Kolten Wong (all fellow farmhands and now current Cardinals), and he took us through everything he does and how he prepares," Tilson says.

Tilson was sent to Peoria this year to get regular at-bats, and he hit .303.

"Obviously, I knew I belong," Tilson says.

Says Mozeliak, "Think of it as raw materials. When you're thinking about how to build something, he had a nice set of tools."

That's why, Mozeliak says, "we try to wear the more innovative hat."

Translation: Your position in the minors won't necessarily be your position in the majors. It's also why the Cardinals have tried to get one of Tilson's teammates, speedy outfielder C.J. McElroy (son of former major league pitcher Chuck McElroy) to bat left-handed in order to be a bigger threat as a leadoff man.

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Model in action

That innovation carries over to the major league level.

Sure, they have their blue-chippers. Wacha was a 2012 first-rounder on the fast track; he also is one of 12 25-and-under pitchers the Cardinals have used this season.

Of the 12 offensive players with the most at-bats for St. Louis this year, all but Holliday and fellow outfielder Carlos Beltran are graduates of the farm system. Of the homegrown 10, only Freese and catcher Yadier Molina have turned 30.

No wonder Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, whose previous job was overseeing the Cardinals system, says of his franchise's rebuilding effort, "There are pieces of the Cardinals Way all over. We're bringing those to Houston."

And the Cardinals keep bringing theirs to St. Louis.

Wong is a 2011 first-rounder who made his debut last month.

"As soon as I got drafted, that day at Busch Stadium, I took BP," Wong says. "They told me to take some ground balls, and instantly (longtime coach) Jose Oquendo found something I could have done differently. Then turning double plays, he said, 'You can't do it that way, you do it this way.' From Day 1, it was a learning experience for me daily."

Back in Peoria, Bilardello has yet another player to "exploit that value," as he puts it: Breyvic Valera, 21, who calls himself a second baseman. Maybe so, but he also played shortstop, third base, left field and right field for Peoria this year.

Such multitasking is often a last resort for a player with deficiencies. But switch-hitting Valera is a legitimate prospect. He hit .309 for Peoria while showing up every day not knowing where he would play.

That versatility is what got Carpenter and Craig to the big leagues. And it's part of the message the Cardinals want to get across.

"They see there's a chance," Mozeliak says. "They see how many homegrown players we have in the big leagues. The level of optimism in a minor league clubhouse is high."

That tenor carries right through the system.

"You don't want to have that asterisk next to your name. 'Oh, this guy doesn't want to work hard,'" Adams says. "You want to get it so you're not that different person in the Cardinals system."

And it's all part of why the Cardinals think their young players have been so successful, especially in 2011. Freese was MVP of the NL Championship Series and the World Series; Craig hit three homers in their seven-game conquest of the Texas Rangers.

"When you have the kind of October they had in '11, there's a lot of growing up going on," Mozeliak says. "But I would also say that group was competitive throughout their careers. Nobody seemed (fearful) because they'd played enough playoff games. The stage was different, but they look like they embraced it."

They continue to embrace it, to expect success.

"It helps when people look at what guys do well, not at what they don't do well," Craig says. "That's part of the development we've had."

And a large part of the Cardinals Way.

"Nothing is done without a lot of things (going) right for us," Mozeliak says. "I assure you, it's not easy.